West Holmes one win away from girls soccer state

ZANESVILLE -- With winds swirling and rain falling, goals were hard to come by Tuesday in the Div. II Girls Soccer Regional semifinal at Sulsberger Stadium at Zanesville High School.

Abby Callahan delivered a beautiful through ball to Mallory Wahl and the sophomore striker knocked it home with 22 seconds remaining in the first half for the only score of the game.

"Goals were hard to come by tonight, that's for sure," West Holmes coach Josh Wengerd said. "A second one would've been huge. We got lucky there in the last 2:30, twice off the post."

But it was the one that went in late in the first half that proved to be the difference for the Knights.

"We got caught napping a little bit there at the end of the first half, and that really changed the game," said Dover coach Toby Mathias. "They had the wind at their back in the second half. We had a chance there at the end, but fortune didn't favor us tonight."

The Knights (15-4-1) were fortunate, advancing to the Regional final on Saturday at Zanesville against either defending state champion St. Francis DeSales or Hillsboro. That game was postponed until Thursday at 6 p.m. in Upper Arlington.

The Knights held the upper hand on attacks and chances, but Dover's defense was up to the task time and time again. Two times midway through the first half, West Holmes had shots that sailed high over the net and a nice save by Tornado keeper Alisha Walker (7 saves) kept the game scoreless until late.

"I thought Dover did a great job eliminating those two, making sure they were covered up and really limited what they could do," Wengerd said. "When they did find space, they made some nice passes. We had a couple pretty nice looking chances that we woulda, coulda, shoulda finished on. Luckily, that wasn't the difference tonight.

"We had a few more shots and possessed a bit more, but they definitely had some chances too," Wengerd continued. "If this were a football game, it would've been fought between the 20s; no real serious threats.

"Usually, we expect Abby to beat her defender on her side at will. But it was cold, it was rainy, and the shot wasn't there for her tonight," he added. "She played the right way."

West Holmes held a 14-4 edge in shots on goal and a 7-2 advantage on corner kicks. But it was a Dover corner in the final few minutes that almost knotted the game up, as West Holmes keeper Shelby Harris went out for a shot, the ball got behind her, but two attempts by Dover in the box hit the bar before Courtney Kozak cleared the ball out.

"I think everybody on the field hit that one," Harris said.

Wengerd was pleased and relieved to move on.

"I've said it before, I didn't know what to expect from this team," Wengerd said. "We raised the bar awfully high last year, but these girls continue to keep raising it. We're definitely very pleased."

Mathias felt that having played West Holmes earlier in the year may have helped prepare his team which bowed out with an 11-6-2 record, but added that the Knights did a nice job changing things up in their attack and deserved the win.

"They played hard and they deserved it," he said.

Kevin Lynch can be reached at 330-674-5676 or klynch@the-daily-record.com.